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An "extraordinary" individual gift will allow the
Columbus Symphony to finish its
current season, the board announced last night.

Without the donation, the symphony would have closed Wednesday, said board President Robert
"Buzz" Trafford.

The gift allows the symphony to proceed with its seven remaining performances, capped by two
shows with Marvin Hamlisch May 30 and 31.

The board will meet before the end of next week to decide whether to hold the popular Picnic
with the Pops summer series, Trafford said. The future of the 2008-09 season starting in October
remains in doubt.

Trafford said the donor asked to remain anonymous. He would not identify the amount of the gift
except to say it "is very substantially in the six figures."

The money was given strictly to allow the symphony to meet its season-ticket obligations, he
said.

"We took money from subscribers and purchasers and we want to provide them performances we took
that money for," he said. "That is the real reason behind this gift."

"We're very pleased the orchestra will continue operations," Fisher said. "I wish I knew the
donor. If we did, we would thank them sincerely for their extraordinary generosity in allowing us
to continue this season."

The donation does nothing to resolve the deadlock between the musicians and the board over the
future of the orchestra. Instead, the gift merely "defers to another day the inevitable suspension
of operations due to a lack of funds," according to a statement issued by the board last night.

Management says support for the symphony -- both from patrons and corporate donors -- isn't what
it used to be and that the symphony needs to shrink. In January, managers announced a plan to
reduce the budget to about $9.5 million, down from $12.5 million this year.

To trim costs, management proposed cutting the number of full-time musicians from 53 to 31 and
the number of performance weeks from 46 to 34. (The number of musicians onstage would not change
because full-time musicians would be supplemented by contract performers.)

After musicians objected to that plan, the board proposed a new contract keeping all musicians
at a reduced salary and schedule, and requiring musicians to pay more of their health benefits.
Musicians unanimously rejected that plan last week, leading to the impasse.

Without a new labor agreement with musicians that accommodates a smaller budget, "there can be
no 2008-2009 season," according to the board statement.

Musicians say there's no reason the symphony can't be as successful as ever, and blame poor
management for failing to build community support.

The two sides were scheduled to meet this week, but now have nothing planned.